Post by rhort on Jun 15, 2012 2:18:24 GMT -5
The opening scene here bears witness to the dawn of the rise of Yvonne, as she takes the first steps to bettering herself by successfully applying for the job of Assistant Personnel Manager at her company’s Macclesfield office. In her so doing, we see a classic example of her failing to take Gary into account at any point before now, when surely it must’ve been known in advance that the job was going to take her 180 miles away. Whilst Gary does have a fairly typical overreaction to this, his point of view can be seen on a number of levels from the viewer’s perspective.
As most people could probably predict by this stage of the series, the first place Gary runs in times of trouble is to Ron’s side, and in the first scene in the printer’s office, we find Gary showing the symptoms of the genuine dilemma he is facing, as he is even forced to examine the level of support he knows in his heart he really should be giving Yvonne. This is, I feel, a brief stroke of genius on the part of the screenplay writers at this juncture, as they have perfectly combined all the fundamentals required for a plot element of this magnitude, particularly in the way they show Gary needing to deeply investigate the feelings behind the reasoning of his decisions. He knows only too well that the path he takes from this point will define the basis of his life from here on in.
Ron shows us here that he has a very deep understanding of the situation, taking us slightly adrift of his usual purpose of simple comic relief (a role that is filled by Reg for the duration of this episode), and as Gary comes to terms with his impending actions, Ron tries to offer something of an alternate perspective, however Gary, as usual, walks all over him and decides to do his own thing.
On returning to his house, Gary seems to show some signs of regret over his decision to leave Yvonne, as this scene features some overly expanded moments that almost drag on far more than we might normally expect to see them share, and there is some genuine closeness between the two of them as Yvonne leaves for Macclesfield.
This feeling of closeness is also the theme for Gary’s meeting with Phoebe when he tells her that he is coming to live in the local area. This closeness is to be expected as their relationship takes a step further, and part of the comic nature of Reg’s contribution to this episode is shown in all three of the scenes he is in, as he plays gooseberry with Gary and Phoebe.
As the scenario of Gary being permanently in the 40s develops, we see that being ‘stuck’ there gets to Gary extremely quickly, and he rapidly becomes disillusioned with the day-to-day life of a wartime Londoner, perhaps similar in many ways to what would happen to anyone who went to live in a town they had fond memories of holidaying in. He practically gives the game away by complaining to Phoebe about the shortages and queues, etc, which it’s clear that she has already become used to, and given the cover story he’s trying to play out, he should have too.
The excellent Ron scene at the printer’s office when Yvonne comes looking for Gary is, for me, the payoff for watching this episode. As they talk on the two main topics of conversation, Ron starts off by getting the wrong end of the stick, and then Yvonne follows up by doing the same. Fairly typical response from Yvonne, who never attempts to make any secret of her feelings for Ron, which run somewhere between distain and contempt, but Ron soldiers on anyway, trying only to help, but (pretty much as usual) he ends up putting his foot in it.
The final scene shows Gary handed a spotlight on the enormity of his situation, as the injured Eastenders are brought into the pub following the air raid. Gary shows classic symptoms of shock even though he wasn’t actually caught in the blast himself, and the episode ends with him clearly wondering if he’s made the right decisions.
I’d give this episode a 65% rating. In itself, it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, and only the Ron scenes prop it up for me.
As most people could probably predict by this stage of the series, the first place Gary runs in times of trouble is to Ron’s side, and in the first scene in the printer’s office, we find Gary showing the symptoms of the genuine dilemma he is facing, as he is even forced to examine the level of support he knows in his heart he really should be giving Yvonne. This is, I feel, a brief stroke of genius on the part of the screenplay writers at this juncture, as they have perfectly combined all the fundamentals required for a plot element of this magnitude, particularly in the way they show Gary needing to deeply investigate the feelings behind the reasoning of his decisions. He knows only too well that the path he takes from this point will define the basis of his life from here on in.
Ron shows us here that he has a very deep understanding of the situation, taking us slightly adrift of his usual purpose of simple comic relief (a role that is filled by Reg for the duration of this episode), and as Gary comes to terms with his impending actions, Ron tries to offer something of an alternate perspective, however Gary, as usual, walks all over him and decides to do his own thing.
On returning to his house, Gary seems to show some signs of regret over his decision to leave Yvonne, as this scene features some overly expanded moments that almost drag on far more than we might normally expect to see them share, and there is some genuine closeness between the two of them as Yvonne leaves for Macclesfield.
This feeling of closeness is also the theme for Gary’s meeting with Phoebe when he tells her that he is coming to live in the local area. This closeness is to be expected as their relationship takes a step further, and part of the comic nature of Reg’s contribution to this episode is shown in all three of the scenes he is in, as he plays gooseberry with Gary and Phoebe.
As the scenario of Gary being permanently in the 40s develops, we see that being ‘stuck’ there gets to Gary extremely quickly, and he rapidly becomes disillusioned with the day-to-day life of a wartime Londoner, perhaps similar in many ways to what would happen to anyone who went to live in a town they had fond memories of holidaying in. He practically gives the game away by complaining to Phoebe about the shortages and queues, etc, which it’s clear that she has already become used to, and given the cover story he’s trying to play out, he should have too.
The excellent Ron scene at the printer’s office when Yvonne comes looking for Gary is, for me, the payoff for watching this episode. As they talk on the two main topics of conversation, Ron starts off by getting the wrong end of the stick, and then Yvonne follows up by doing the same. Fairly typical response from Yvonne, who never attempts to make any secret of her feelings for Ron, which run somewhere between distain and contempt, but Ron soldiers on anyway, trying only to help, but (pretty much as usual) he ends up putting his foot in it.
The final scene shows Gary handed a spotlight on the enormity of his situation, as the injured Eastenders are brought into the pub following the air raid. Gary shows classic symptoms of shock even though he wasn’t actually caught in the blast himself, and the episode ends with him clearly wondering if he’s made the right decisions.
I’d give this episode a 65% rating. In itself, it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, and only the Ron scenes prop it up for me.
